New recalls raise questions for Takata.

The New York Times (11/2, Ivory, Tabuchi, Subscription Publication, 11.64M) reports the recalls for Takata airbags continue to widen. “Two automakers have recently announced recalls for 2015 and 2016 models,” the article reports, including Honda. The recall “came on the heels of a General Motors recall for 400 cars from the 2015 model year, initiated after side airbags failed in tests” only weeks after “regulators asked Volkswagen to provide information about the rupture of a Takata-made side airbag in a Tiguan from the 2015 model year,” the article adds. NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said that the ruptures in newer-model vehicles “may be linked to manufacturing weakness in the inflater housing, rather than the degradation of propellant exposed to prolonged heat and humidity.” He added that the NHTSA had “included all Takata-made inflaters using ammonium nitrate propellant within the scope of its investigation in order to ensure that every American has safe airbags in their vehicle.”